With advent of the digital age, use of digital media and devices is ubiquitous in modern societies across people of all ages. Digital media and devices have infiltrated into all parts of our lives—from digital entertainment, professional & amateur work, travels, online purchases to financial services, we are relying on digital devices much more than we used to be. A type of digital device which we rely upon and use extensively is a mobile device. This includes a tablet, a laptop and a mobile phone. According to Statista.com, there are currently 4.61 billion mobile phone users worldwide. That is, more than one in every two persons own a mobile phone globally.
A necessary consequence of our heavy dependence on digital devices is that an enormous amount of potentially sensitive and confidential information such as contact details, messages, emails, bank details, digital wallets, tax details, insurance details, medical information etc. is being stored online or in digital storage since such information is often required to carry out transactions and/or run applications online successfully. This leads to a flourishing area of digital security where entry barriers are raised to allow use of this privileged information only to selected and appropriately authorized individuals. Typical entry barriers are in the form of PINs, passwords, patterns and biometrics such as iris scans and fingerprints. However, none of these security hurdles is very secure as fraudsters are often able to breach them surreptitiously by key-logging, by learning the patterns through observation, by tracing smudges left on touch screens, by copying fingerprints, or by duplicating iris scans.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide a method and an apparatus allowing users to access their digital devices or information with added security, which overcomes one or more of the above disadvantages, or which at least provides a useful alternative. Moreover, the method and apparatus also facilitate faster and easier access to applications and special functions in mobile devices.
Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the disclosure.